Better Late Than Never

Through seven hours of class today (far more hours of law than one should ever have in one day), I constantly checked the status of my flight. Yesterday’s flight from DC to Syracuse was cancelled, and I feared that my plans for a four-day weekend getaway to see Alex would be crushed.

After some confusion at the gate, we finally boarded the plane and I thought to myself, “Hey, only fifteen minutes behind schedule, not bad at all.” We were all buckled up, ready to go, until the engine shut off and they told us that they we would be boarding a new plane. Why? Who knows. But we all had to get off, wait for our luggage to change planes, reboard another plane that looked exactly the same, listen to the safety instructions again, and relive our own version of Bill Murray’s “Groundhog Day.”

I’m sitting in the Syracuse Airport, an hour and a half later than expected. Because I arrived later than expected, the ride Alex arranged couldn’t pick me up and now I have to wait half an hour more. At this point, I would usually be very cranky, like most of my traveling companions.

Yet I think that the sheer fact that there was a possibility that I wouldn’t be able to arrive in Syracuse at all this weekend makes me happy just to be here. Even if it took longer than expected. Even though it’s freezing cold!

Probably won't be blogging for the next few days; this is as close as I get to a vacation. If you don't hear back from me past Tuesday, it's probably because I've turned into a popsicle.

Valentine's Haikus

Mom & Dad
Have a nice dinner.
You both are the best parents,
Be back for spring break.

Roommate of the Past (Megs)
It has been ten years!
The sister I never had,
Come eat cake batter.

Roommate of Present (Chandana)
Thank you for teaching
Me your ghetto-fab ways, yo
Now have a cupcake.

Brother
You don't return IMs,
You make more money than me,
But I still love you.

My Bus Buddies
As much as we hate...
When the N8's running late,
It's fun with you all.

Bruin Dems
My liberal loves,
I miss tabling on Bruinwalk,
But not the crazies.

USAC'ers
Though I miss you all,
I am happy no council
On V-day this year.

All other friends
However we met,
Thanks for being in my life,
Come visit DC!

My Laptop
I'm always with you.
Now I can talk to others,
Thanks for not crashing.

Al Gore
Please Al, run again
You have a place in my heart,
...And Barack for Veep.

Alex
To my other half,
Love you more than chocolate,
See you tomorrow!

[Note: the picture to the right is of the cupcakes that I made for the Women's Law Society Bakesale]

Government Shutdown & The Job

1. The Government Shutdown
Is it really a surprise that our country has a difficult time handling natural disasters when its own capital city shuts down with a little ice and snow? Sure its icy, but this is not the 9 feet of snow that they have in upstate New York. You would think the District would be a little more prepared. But who am I to judge when I come from a state that can't properly drain when it gets more than 2 inches of rain.

It was like the Apocolypse today though. At 2pm today, the federal government shut down (though the House is still debating Iraq at 11pm). Not long after, schools closed down too and I was sent home without my daily dose of Criminal Law. I'm not complaining though, and I'm actually crossing my fingers that when I call into the special hotline tomorrow, I will find out that my 9am class is cancelled. Chances look good when "the Weather Service predicts... that the area would have the most significant accumulation of ice on roads and trees since the ice storm of 1999."

2. The Job
I committed today. Kind of felt like an athlete signing with a team, but for far less money (wait, actually no money, but I'll happily take the 6 units, thank you.) This summer I will be working at the Constitution Project. In a nutshell, it is a non-profit bipartisan think tank that does research on big constitutional issues (national security & liberty, war powers acts, separation of branches, and other major issues that are very "in the news" nowadays). They assmeble prominent politicians and jurists into working committees, write amicus briefs, submit op-eds into major papers, hold panels, and have their members tesitfy infront of Congress.

After (1) having a good interview & liking the people who work there (2) having everyone tell me that this place seems "right up your alley" and (3) hearing my constitutional law professor tell me that it would be a great place for me to work, I decided to quickly accept their equally as quick offer. Many more blogs on this, I'm sure, for the next few months.

The Geek Squad

Nerd. Dork. Geek. Whatever you call it, whatever it actually means, that's who I am. And apparently I'm in good company.

Yesterday as I was reading about the impeachment of Andrew Johnson, I had this sudden memory of trying to insult my brother by telling him that no one liked Presidents named Andrew. Effective, probably not. Nerdy, yes indeed. I remember trying to memorize the Presidents and learning obscure facts about them out of the kid's dictionary I got when I was in 2nd or 3rd grade. Just like I remember trying to memorize all the symbols of the periodic table, competing as the only girl on the district math team, watching jeopardy instead of cartoons with my brother and cousin, naming countries alphabetically on long car rides, being on the robotics team (ok, so that was only 5 years ago) and more.

Just when I thought I was a very strange kid, I learned yesterday that my roommate also tried learning the periodic table when she was younger (sorry for shattering your image of coolness). Even funnier, was that I found out today that my friend not only knew the symbols, but could fill in the entire periodic table...though he claims that he only did this because they got chocolate as a reward. As he was sharing this story, another friend said that she learned all the state capitals and facts about the states because she got a popsicle everytime she got had more facts- she says she got a lot of popsicles. The final member of our nerd support group confessed that she knew what pi as far as the calculator would tell her.

Are people who go to school forever, like we law students, more nerdy than the general population? I actually think everyone has "nerdy" elements to them, some of us just embrace it more than others.

(PS. the actor who played Steve Urkel went to UCLA. Go Bruins!)

One Day...

...I would like to have lemon trees and avocado trees in my backyard...A house with walls painted different colors...Good kitchen appliances...

A lot of my friends wished they never graduated because they miss the college lifestyle, but not the class part. Strangely enough, I'm the opposite. I don't mind the going to class part, or even doing most of the reading (except when 30 pages of reading takes me all day). But I almost feel like I'm ready to be settled (before you go making assumptions, this does not mean that I want to get married). I'm thankful for what I have but I'm just ready for some permanence.

In property, we learned about ownership and what that means to people. I guess when you're a student, not owning much can contribute to the feeling of not owning your own life. You may have your limited belongings- your clothes, books, beloved laptops, iPod, and of course your debt but almost everything else in your life seems a little transitory. Who knows where you'll be living in three years, or even one year. I guess that's why we rent, don't paint our walls, and buy disposable furniture from Ikea and Craigslist.

I suppose this is why I went to law school straight out of undergrad, and I still maintain that I made the right decision for myself. To reach this notion of stability sooner. In the meantime, I use Sundays as my day to pretend that I live a non-student life. Today I slept in, read the news, walked to church, bought some household things at the hardware store, got some coffee at Whole Foods, and picked out a pair of new glasses at an optomotrist offce. It's amazing how doing some errands and seeing people of different ages can be a nice break from your routine of reading.